Flowers in the House

Jane is hosting Flowers in the House today.

I have picked Asters from the garden. The larger blue are Aster frikartii 'Monch'; the small flowers are Aster 'Little Carlow'. The pink were propagated from my Mums garden where they have been growing for at least 37 years.

The cutting garden 2012 - annuals

It has not been a good year for my cutting garden. Personal things have meant a lack of time; Spring was cold and wet; Summer never really got going apart from a few days here and there.I lost my bag of seeds which I still haven't found. The only seeds I sowed were the ones I ordered this year. Here's what happened.....

Calendula 'Sherbet Fizz'

Calendula 'Sherbet Fizz'

Calendula 'Sherbet Fizz' is a hardy annual. The colour is more orange than red and clashed with the pinks and purples of my garden. Lasts 5 days or more in water. I won't grow it again.

Scabious 'Black Night'

 Scabious 'Black Night' is also a hardy annual. I have grown mixed colour scabious for the past couple of years. They always do well and last well in water. Last year a seedling in the brickwork came up as a similar colour to this. I loved it so searched for a single colour seed and came across this one. It has a bigger flower than the previous scabious I've grown. I love it and will grow lots next year.

Ammi majus

Ammi majus is a hardy annual and is very pretty. Prone to flopping down and has to be protected from slugs so I use copper rings.

I also grew Ageratum 'Red Sea'. This is a half hardy annual. The description in the plant catalogue described it as 'dark red buds open to reveal purple red blooms.' This is correct but they are tiny and I haven't been able to photograph them. They haven't grown to the 24-28in. (60-70cm.) either but that's probably because of the the low temperatures. I won't be growing these again.

I'll talk about perennials in my next post.

Flowers in the House

Jane is hosting the first anniversary of Flowers in the House.

I have a jug of Rhodanthe manglesii 'Timeless Rose' grown from seed last summer.

 
They were easy to grow and the slugs weren't interested. Even in the garden the flowers feel papery. I grew them next to the path and cut far more than I expected. I think I had about 8 plants.

I dried them in the garage along with Alchemilla mollis, Poppy and Nigella seed heads and Mint.

Happy Christmas

These are little hearts I made with some Christmas fabric from my stash. The tree is a cheap one I bought for a display a couple of years ago. I came across it again while looking for something else. The pot is from the shed (I gave it a good clean), the ribbons are also from my stash.

I hope you all have a happy Christmas and New Year. I'll see you in 2012.

Flowers in the Holiday House - part 2

I wrote about this arrangement in my last post. I only had time to take a couple of photographs before the clouds gathered and the light became too poor for photography. I took advantage of some bright conditions at the weekend to take some close-ups.

I didn't know what effect the glycerine I used as a preservative would have on the berries and hips.

I very pleased with the Rowan berries which kept their colour.

Some of the rose hips turned this dark red while other hips stayed a bright red. The poppy appeared in my garden one year. I leave them to self seed so that I can have these lovely seed heads.

Flowers in the Holiday House

I'm visiting Jane at smallbutcharming for Flowers in the  Holiday House.

Except I don't have any flowers. But I do have these.

This pot contains the glycerined rowan leaves and berries I did in September; dried poppy heads and rose hips (also preserved in glycerine), all from my garden. I have also added cones I've collected elsewhere. The berries, hips and cones have all been wired.

Both the charity shop bottles below contain grasses from my garden.

 This is Calamagrostis brachytricha

 This is Molinia caerulea subsp. arundincea 'Transparent'.

Christmas tree and decorations not up yet, I'll be putting them up on Wednesday. 

A bowl of cones

I have these cones in a cream bowl during the autumn and winter months. I collected them on a favourite walk whilst on holiday in the Lake District two years ago. Every time I look at them I remember that walk.

We left the car and walked through the Hope Park...

... we paused to admire the trees outside the theatre....

...before continuing along the shore of Derwentwater...

...passing Derwent Isle in the centre of the lake..

....before reaching Friar's Crag...

 ...to sit and admire the view before turning back.